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Penny Blood

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Penny Blood
Developer(s)
  • Yukikaze
  • Shade
  • Studio Wildrose
Director(s)Matsuzo Machida
Designer(s)Matsuzo Machida
Artist(s)
  • Miyako Kato
  • Nobutaka Hanya
  • Masato Watanabe
Writer(s)Matsuzo Machida
Composer(s)
Platform(s)
Release2025
Genre(s)Role-playing

Penny Blood[a] is an upcoming role-playing video game co-developed by Yukikaze, Shade, and Studio Wildrose. It is planned for release in 2025 for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. A spiritual successor to the Shadow Hearts series, the game follows magically-gifted detective Matthew Farrell during the 1920s as he investigates supernatural events stretching across America, Europe, and Asia. It carries over several gameplay elements including turn-based battles infused with real-time elements, and lead character Matthew transforming into a powerful monster during combat.

Many Shadow Hearts staff returned to develop Penny Blood, including series creator Matsuzo Machida, character artist Miyako Kato, and Yoshitaka Hirota as lead composer. Machida created Penny Blood to express similar concepts to those explored in Shadow Hearts, though aimed at an adult audience. The project was revealed as part of a "Double Kickstarter" alongside Wild Arms creator Akifumi Kaneko's project Armed Fantasia. The project was successfully funded within a day of the campaign going live.

Premise and gameplay

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Penny Blood is an upcoming role-playing video game set in an alternate version of the 1920s infused with elements of Gothic horror. The lead protagonist is Matthew Farrell, a private detective based in New York; he inherited the power to transform into powerful monster-like beings from his father, and while he hates this ability he uses it in service to the Bureau of Investigation to combat supernatural threats born from Malice. Following an outbreak of monsters at an asylum, he ends up on a mission spanning from the Americas to Europe and Asia pursuing a dangerous criminal. He is joined by the half-mechanical Emilia Dawson of the British Secret Intelligence Service, and Suseri Otsuki of the fictional Japanese Kamuzumi organization.[1][2][3]

Gameplay features Matthew travelling between different locations across the world via an overworld map, exploring dungeons around those locations, and fighting enemies. Battles use a turn-based combat system, with actions triggering a real-time button minigame dubbed Psycho Sigil; hitting areas on the titular Sigil with the right timing fulfils the attack.[1][2] Each character has a limited number of Sanity Points which decrease each turn, with the character gaining a boost in attack when their Sanity is depleted but at the cost of being unable to control them.[4][2]

Planning and development

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Penny Blood was created by Matsuzo Machida as a spiritual successor to Shadow Hearts, a series developed by Sacnoth and released between 2001 and 2005. Following the release of Shadow Hearts: From the New World, the development team left to become independent, with Machida and series artist Miyako Kato founding Studio Wildrose.[5][6] Machida created the storyline and concepts as an alternate expression of the themes and mechanics he created for Shadow Hearts, though aiming it at an adult audience.[5] His intention was to take the darker themes which had been gradually removed from Shadow Hearts as far as they could go within a mature game, though some comedic elements will be retained as in Shadow Hearts: Covenant.[3][4] While some terminology such as Malice and Sanity Points carried over, there was no other connection to Shadow Hearts. The game's title was a reference to the Penny dreadful, a popular style of serial literature during the 19th Century, while the logo included a reference to coins given to the dead.[4]

Planning and pre-production for Penny Blood began in 2021.[7] The game is being co-developed by Studio Wildrose, the newly-founded Yukikaze, and third-party developer Shade.[5][8] Machida acted as director, lead designer and scenario writer. Kato returned as art director and character designer, with Nobutaka Hanya joining as monster designer and Masato Watanabe as a concept artist. Shadow Hearts composer Yoshitaka Hirota returned as lead composer, with Akira Kaida also contributing music.[1] Guest composers Nobuo Uematsu and Kenji Ito were also announced to be a part of the project, creating music for American and Japanese locations respectively.[9] The setting was chosen due to Machida's fascination with the period, which many countries surviving to the present day with changed attitudes and relationships. When creating the Fusion concept for Penny Blood, Machida used the theme of "holy" figures in tales as opposed to the demonic inspiration of Shadow Hearts.[3] Kato's character designs reflected the darker tone with a desaturated color palette and designs drawing from American comic books, with "Obscurity" being the key word for the overall visual designer.[5]

Machida and Wild Arms creator Akifumi Kaneko met through a mutual friend during early planning for Penny Blood, learning that Kaneko wanted to create a Wild Arms spiritual successor titled Armed Fantasia. Inspired by the success of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes on Kickstarter in 2020, it was decided to both fund and gauge interest in the projects through crowdfunding. As there might be trouble funding each project individually, the two decided to team up for a "Double Kickstarter" which would fund both games.[5][4] The Kickstarter campaign was announced on August 26, going live two days later on August 29 with a combined budget of $750,000 to fund both projects initially for Windows; alongside the co-funding, the team also implemented separate funding tiers and stretch goals for the two games.[10][11] The funding goal was reached in under 20 hours, and the stretch goal for console versions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S was funded the following day.[12] When the campaign closed on September 30, it had generated over $2.6 million in funding, clearing all its advertised stretch goals for both games. The stretch goals included a New Game+, additional quests and gameplay mechanics, minigames, crossover items with Armed Fantasia, and a sequel novel detailing post-game events.[13] Machida plans for Penny Blood to release during 2025.[4] A companion title, Penny Blood: Hellbound, was released in early access in March 2024.[14] Hellbound is a roguelike action game that serves as a prequel to the main game.[15]

In May 2024, Machida and Studio Wildrose filed a lawsuit against Ben Judd and Dangen Entertainment, who managed the double Kickstarter campaign, over breach of contract for failing to disburse production funds earned from the Kickstarter.[16] As of July 2024, the game has been unable to secure a publisher due to these issues.[17]

References

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  1. ^ Japanese: ペニーブラッド, Hepburn: Penī Buraddo
  1. ^ a b c ペニーブラッド (in Japanese). Penny Blood website. Archived from the original on 30 August 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  2. ^ a b c 『ペニーブラッド』情報まとめ。『シャドウハーツ』開発スタッフによる新作RPGの対応機種や登場キャラなど基本情報をお届け. Famitsu (in Japanese). 27 August 2022. Archived from the original on 29 August 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  3. ^ a b c Romano, Sal (26 August 2022). "Armed Fantasia and Penny Blood – Double Kickstarter campaign interview with Akifumi Kaneko and Matsuzo Machida". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 28 August 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e 『ワイルドアームズ』『シャドウハーツ』開発スタッフによる新作大型RPGの企画が始動。ダブルキックスターターキャンペーンを実施. Famitsu (in Japanese). 27 August 2022. Archived from the original on 29 August 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e Gordon, Sam-James (26 August 2022). "Dreams From Our Wildest Hearts: Penny Blood and Armed Fantasia Dual Developer Interview". RPGFan. Archived from the original on 26 August 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  6. ^ Robuschi, Majkol (2 January 2016). "Intervista a Matsuzo Machida e Miyako Kato: il duo creativo della serie Shadow Hearts". GeekGamer.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  7. ^ 町田松三さんが新作『ペニーブラッド』の特徴を説明。キャラクター設定や世界観のこだわりなども明らかに. Dengeki Online (in Japanese). 30 August 2022. Archived from the original on 3 September 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  8. ^ 新作RPG『PENNY BLOOD』の制作チームとして参加しています (in Japanese). Shade. 29 August 2022. Archived from the original on 29 August 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  9. ^ Romano, Sal (28 September 2022). "Armed Fantasia: To the End of the Wilderness and Penny Blood – Double Kickstarter closing live stream set for September 30". Gematsu. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
  10. ^ Sincalir, Brendan (29 August 2022). "Wild Arms and Shadow Hearts devs launching dual Kickstarter". Gameindustry.biz. Archived from the original on 29 August 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  11. ^ Castillo, Gio (26 August 2022). "Armed Fantasia and Penny Blood Coming to Kickstarter from Wild ARMs and Shadow Hearts Creators". RPGFan. Archived from the original on 26 August 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  12. ^ 『ワイルドアームズ』『シャドウハーツ』開発スタッフ新作ゲームがPS5、XSX/Sでも開発決定。100万ドルのストレッチゴールに到達. Famitsu (in Japanese). 1 September 2022. Archived from the original on 1 September 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  13. ^ Tolentino, Josh (2 October 2022). "Armed Fantasia, Penny Blood Campaigns Close Successfully". Siliconera. Archived from the original on 2 October 2022. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  14. ^ https://rpgamer.com/2024/03/penny-blood-hellbound-available-on-early-access/
  15. ^ https://rpgamer.com/2023/12/penny-blood-hellbound-announced/
  16. ^ https://www.siliconera.com/penny-blood-director-files-lawsuit-over-unpaid-kickstarter-funds/
  17. ^ https://www.rpgfan.com/2024/11/25/penny-blood-studio-sues-former-publisher-alleging-unpaid-funds/
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